Committee Decisions

32 COM 7B.16

Shiretoko (Japan) (N 1193)

3. Commends the State Party for responding effectively to the recommendations made at the time of inscription of the property;

4. Takes note of the recommendations of the joint World Heritage Centre / IUCN Reactive Monitoring mission and requests the State Party to implement them, with particular emphasis on the following:

a) explore with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) the obtaining of the Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSA) designation for the marine component of the property, with a view to giving it an added layer of protection;

b) integrate the marine management plan with the overall management plan of the property and clearly identify activities, results and objectively verifiable indicators, assign clear roles and responsibilities and elaborate a time-frame for its implementation;

c) complete the revision of the overall management plan for the property and integrate all the other individual plans, including the one for the marine component, salmonids, sika deer, and for ecotourism and proper use;

d) consider identifying and designating locally relevant conservation zones, including no-take zones and practices, within the marine habitat, to ensure sustainable productivity of the marine biodiversity, including of the fishery resource;

e) continue the cooperation which has been initiated with the Russian Federation to find long-term solutions to resource use problems, particularly the unsustainable harvesting of the Walleye Pollock, and for regular exchange of scientific information;

f) continue and accelerate measures to promote the free movement of salmon within the property and also to increase salmon escapement, giving priority attention to the modification of structures on the Rusha River, and monitor impacts on salmon populations;

g) develop clear indicators to help define acceptable limits for the impact of grazing on natural vegetation, and monitor the impacts of control measures on sika deer populations and the biodiversity and ecosystems of the property;

h) develop a consolidated ecotourism strategy for the property and ensure that it is closely linked and integrated with regional strategies for tourism and economic development within Shiretoko;

i) develop a Climate Change Strategy for Shiretoko which includes:

i) a monitoring programme; and

ii) adaptive management strategies to minimise any impacts of climate change on its values;

5. Also requests the State Party to keep the World Heritage Centre informed regularly on the progress made with the implementation of the recommendations of the 2008 monitoring mission and submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2012, a report on the above issues for examination by World Heritage Committee at its 36th session in 2012.